The university campus in Breivika is located approximately 3 kilometres north of the Tromsø town centre. The Humanities District is situated in the centre of campus and comprises, from the lower end to the upper end, The Faculty of Humanities and The Faculty of Social Sciences, along with the Main Library, National Archives of Tromsø and the new Theoretical Subjects building. A gradually sloping terrain surrounds the Humanities Department. The entire area is divided between the Technical Department building and the Faculty of Social Sciences building, by a thruway street used by the public transportation called Hansine Hansensveg. In addition, the street Universitetsvegen runs through the Theoretical Subjects building. This provides the campus with an apparent district structure.

Considering the complex as one entity, from the Technical Department building up to the Theoretical Subjects building, it can be characterised as an escalating stairway - both in terms of height and the volumes of the buildings. The buildings are organised in an east-west direction, with a walkway axis that starts next to the Faculty of Humanities building and the lower entrance of the Faculty of Social Sciences building (along the street Hansine Hansensveg). This walkway continues upwards alongside the Main Library. It is fortified with a robust row of columns covered with a roof as it passes through the Theoretical Subjects building. This walkway axis runs both above ground and underground. The theoretical fields of study are housed in these buildings. Here one will find large lecture halls and many study rooms. Brick is the dominating façade material employed throughout the Humanities District. This visually unites the buildings, in spite of the various architects that designed the buildings and the different years of construction.